I guess the general consensus is that hoarding is random and potentially chaotic whereas collecting is more organized and deliberate. However, what's more important than the intent of the person doing the collecting/hoarding is the perception of intent by others in the hobby. And the type of material being collected/hoarded matters greatly too.
Forum member Ottawa previously shared the story of acquiring a "hoard" of 1935 Bank of Canada notes...
http://www.cdnpapermoney.com/forum/index.php?topic=8603.0Even more significant is the almost legendary discovery of a hoard of Devil's Face notes worth a
face value of several hundreds of thousands of dollars. It was discovered in the city of Ottawa (I think) in the 1960s or perhaps the 1970s. I heard that the owner, a well-known local businessman, tried to find a buyer for the entire hoard. Whether or not that ever happened, I think many of the runs of consecutive Devil's Face notes that have hit the auction block in the past few years have originated from that hoard.
In both of the these examples, the notes in question did not have significant catalogue values at the time of their discoveries. Only during the recent market upswing did their values increase, sometimes multifold. The Devil's Face variety is internationally recognized and collected by people all over the world. Even a hoard of many thousands of notes would not reverse the desire of world collectors from wanting examples of these notes. The story of how the Devil Face portrait came to be reinforces the popularity of the note type. So popularity, not just rarity, plays a big role in determining value. Ditto for the notes in Ottawa's hoard of 1935 notes. The 1935 series is popular, and at worst, a hoard of high grade notes hitting the market all at once would merely cause a slowing of the acceleration in value of these notes. The 1935s, just like the Devil's Face notes, have been undervalued for a long time and have only recently moved much closer to their perceived equilibrium.
So I have to disagree with what walktothewater said about hoards depressing value. There are, of course, exceptions where hoards DO cause problems.
The 1954 *N/Y replacement note saw its Unc value jump from $40 to $1,100 in the past decade. Why? It was perceived to be a sleeper rarity within a series that was lacking in interesting notes. Recently, we just learned of the existence of two "hoards" of consecutively-numbered runs of these notes. Personally, I call runs of uncirculated notes hoards, even though the persons who saved them are not hoarders. I'm not surprised that there are runs of *N/Y notes out there. You didn't have to be a banker to afford the face value of putting aside 5-10 consecutive notes. What would surprise me is if the catalogue value of *N/Y notes keeps going up year after year. But the Charlton pricing panel is an entirely different subject outside of this discussion. Anyhow, I've yet to hear of any 1954 $20 *V/E hoards. The Wiki register of *V/E notes is maturing nicely, and it's becoming clear that *V/E notes are not rare, but they are certainly not as common as *N/Y. The cost of saving a run of *V/E notes back in the 1960's would have been prohibitive.
In the realm of chartered notes, there have been a few documented hoards. The Bank of Nova Scotia 1935 $10 note is a popular piece, but I suspect its popularity is owing to a grand misconception of the note's availability coupled with a great deal of stupidity exerted by buyers. The competition for these notes on eBay, for example, is akin to throwing a shank of beef into a piranha tank. For a period of several years, there was one particular eBay buyer who went after almost every 1935 Bank of Nova Scotia note that was listed. Even notes with tears, stains and/or pieces missing could still achieve $80-$100 because of active bidding involving that one person. Even to this day, you could except far more for a 1935 BNS small size note on eBay than you could for a comparable Royal Bank or Bank of Montreal note. However, at least a couple of experienced collectors and dealers have told me they have seen hoards of 50-100 low-grade BNS notes. What happened to these hoards is anyone's guess. A collector in Western Canada told me that the person who was buying BNS notes is a bank manager who wanted them to give to bank employees who reached the milestone of at least 20 years of service. Frankly, I find that story hard to believe. Heavily soiled and stained notes make lousy gifts, especially to people who are not collectors. I'd rather receive a bonus in modern spendable cash.
The Union Bank of Canada's 1912 issues of $5 and $10 notes were the subject of a hoard of 50 or more notes owned by a dealer some years ago. That hoard may have been broken up and sold off over time, meaning that notes of that issue may have been rare outside of the hoard, and most 1912 Union notes hitting the market in the past decade were once part of the hoard. However, if that hoard is still intact, then these notes are not rare, and the huge upswing in price for these notes may be premature and unjustified.
Every hoard starts with one note. I don't disagree with one former forum member who said that most people have hoards, not collections. I wouldn't mind classifying my own collection as a hoard because there's no real focus to what I have. I organize my notes by denomination and arrange them chronologically, but I don't have anything worthy of a display at the RCNA. What my collection lacks is a lot of junk, and I think that's what makes a lot of other people's collection hoards. Junk is low- to mid-grade notes worth little more than face value. "Junk will always be junk", so I see no reason to hang onto it. So I think a hoarder is someone who has an irrational belief that their junk will eventually become treasure. Goodness knows, I would never chastise a person who gets rid of junk like well-circulated 1954 $1 and $2 notes that have not accrued value in the past 50+ years. These notes need to be destroyed. Most 1973 $1 notes, even in high grade, should be taken to the bank for a trip to the furnace. A number of forum members would shriek in horror at this suggestion. They say such junky notes are great for beginning collectors and for people assembling prefix sets. I say rubbish. Beginning collectors who don't move up to more interesting and more expensive items quickly will probably cease being collectors within 5 years. Collecting common notes by prefix is not much of a challenge given how common these notes are.
Despite all I have said, the fine line between collecting and hoarding is still entirely subjective. Some people set aside low-value items, and some people focus on high-value items. I think the market collectively decides which person is the savvy investor and which one is labelled as potentially deranged
Canadian Paper Money
